OBTAINING AND DEMONSTRATING RELIABILITY IN ELECTROMECHANICAL COMPONENTS IN NUCLEAR WEAPONS SYSTEMS MANUFACTURED FOR THE ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION
The Atomic Energy Commission places maximum responsibility on its contractors for the design, development and manufacture of nuclear weapons systems. Basic milithry characteristics for nuclear weapons systems including certhin physical and performance features are developed by the Department of Defense and given to AEC as Military Characteristics (MCs) which include basic reliability requirements. On the basis of the MCs the AEC design agencies prepare specifications including the detailed quality and reliability specifications. The design specifications are provided to AEC manufacturing contractors who have the responsibility to produce the nuclear weapons systems in accordance with the specifications. The AEC requires its manufacturing contractors to maintain an effective quality control (QC) program that will provide product quality consistent with specifications and design intent. In addition to the manufacturers' QC program, the AEC has a Quality Assurance (QA) program which is an audit type function. The QA function is a streamlined effort designed to give assurance to the AEC and, in turn, to the DOD that the AEC manufacturers' QC programs are effective and the quality of nuclear weapons systems going into War Reserve (WR) Stockpile is satisfactory. The manufacturers' QC efforts and not the AEC QA program are the principal tools used to maintain quality in the manufacturing process, Furthermore, it is the manufacturing contractors who influence the level of the QA effort since the degree of AEC inspection and other audit effort is tempered by the effectiveness of the contractors' QC programs. The ideal evaluation of the quality of the stockpile would, of course, consist of taking a statistically valid sample from the stockpile and having a complete functional test. In the absence of this, the next best thing is the results of the New Materials System Tests (NMST) -- Stockpile Sampling Program (SSP) which is a part of the AEC Quality Assurance effort. Sample sizes are selected from new production and from the stockpile and on the basis of inspections and tests a functionability statement is made at a specified confidence level. Short of taking a statistically valid sample from the stockpile and having full scale detonations, the best single indicator of the quality of AEC produced nuclear weapons systems in the stockpile is the results of the NMST-SSP program. Some examples are given to illustrate how reliability is specified, obtained, and demonstrated in electromechanical components. (auth)
- Research Organization:
- Albuquerque Operations Office, AEC
- NSA Number:
- NSA-18-017967
- OSTI ID:
- 4035268
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-449-2
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: From Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers National Aerospace Electronics Conference, Dayton, Ohio, May 1964. Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-64
- Country of Publication:
- Country unknown/Code not available
- Language:
- English
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